Anywhere But Here: How Britain’s Broken Asylum System Fails Us All
By: Nicola Kelly
Longlisted for the 2025 Moore Prize for Human Rights
‘Brilliant and hugely timely.’ Caroline Lucas, author of Another England
‘Will ignite both your compassion and your rage.’ Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism
‘A remarkably human book.’ Sophie Elmhirst, author of Maurice and Marilyn
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What is it like to arrive on our shores with nothing and be pushed to the margins of society?
Who stands to gain from an asylum system that is intentionally hostile?
Anywhere But Here is a powerful exposé of Britain’s broken asylum system and how it fails us all.
Each year tens of thousands of people risk their lives to cross the Channel in small boats hoping to find safety in Britain. Yet the very system designed to protect them has all but collapsed.
With unique and unparalleled access, award-winning journalist and former Home Office insider Nicola Kelly takes us behind the scenes of the small boats crisis for the first time.
We follow the under-resourced coastguard overseeing search and rescue operations in the Channel. The decision-makers hired from McDonald’s and Aldi to conduct ‘life and death’ asylum interviews. The immigration barristers securing last-minute reprieves for deportees who narrowly escaped death. And we step inside the Home Office corridors as ministers and advisors respond to emerging crises and scandals, from Windrush to the Rwanda plan.
At its heart are the stories of war-torn arrivals, lone teenagers and trafficked women attempting to settle in cities, towns and villages across the UK. We travel to meet them, exploring where they have fled from and why, and the response of local communities to their new neighbours.
Situated on the beaches and the ports, in the hotels, the courtrooms and the detention centres where the futures of those affected unfold, this is a searing investigation into one of the most urgent issues and shocking injustices of our time.
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‘Brings such a human and humane perspective to an issue that is politicised and toxic.’ Guardian
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‘A tour de force of reporting, a harrowing tale of human experience and a devastating indictment of serial failures by Britain’s political class. With her roadmap for reform, Nicola Kelly’s book should be required reading for every incoming Home Secretary.’
- Ben Rawlence, author of City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp -
‘At last! A wise, compelling and compassionate account of the UK’s favourite political football, asylum and immigration policy. Sharing the powerful human stories behind the statistics, Kelly shines an unflinching spotlight on the scale of injustice and incompetence at the heart of Britain’s broken asylum system, and points to practical and positive ways it might be fixed. Beautifully written, bold and brave, Anywhere but Here painstakingly separates the reality from the all too frequently toxic rhetoric. A copy should be on every desk not just in the Home Office, but throughout government. A brilliant and hugely timely book.’
- Caroline Lucas, author of Another England -
‘A stunning expose of the UK’s broken asylum system. Kelly is an incredible storyteller who reveals the astonishing injustices experienced by the human beings fleeting conflict and hardship in search of a better life. This book will ignite both your compassion and your rage.’
- Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism -
‘An urgent and searing expose of the British immigration system and its failings, Anywhere But Here draws from a range of eyewitness accounts from refugees, politicians, coastguards, and more to reveal the full extent of the injustices and tragedies of the small boat crisis.’
- Waterstones -
‘Kelly’s book, Anywhere But Here, brings such a human and humane perspective to an issue that is politicised and toxic.’
- The Guardian -
‘Kelly remains poised, articulate and informed by exhaustive knowledge. Above all, to read Anywhere But Here is to follow her in the search for justice’
- New Statesman -
‘Powerful…puts the stories of displaced people front and centre’
- The Herald -
‘Anywhere But Here shines a light on the impact of Britain’s broken asylum system not just on refugees, but on society as a whole’
- Democracy for Sale -
‘A deeply reported, richly textured expose… This isn’t just a story about how Britain’s asylum system fails those it is supposed to protect, it’s a vital account of how a broken system fails all of us.’
- Peter Geoghegan, author of Democracy for Sale -
‘Excellent … Kelly’s book is well worth reading. It explains in detail how the asylum system in the UK does, or rather doesn’t, work, but it’s a book about people, not policy, with vivid, compassionate, first-hand reporting, and a strong narrative pull. I found it powerful and revealing.’
- Andrew Sparrow, The Guardian -
‘Reporting the subject of asylum, and telling the stories of those who try to claim it, is essential work, but in Kelly’s hands it is also elegant, gripping and lucid. She shows such compassion and patience as a writer, and gives the people she writes about the time, respect and understanding they deserve and yet so rarely receive. This is a remarkably human book.’
- Sophie Elmhirst, author of Maurice and Maralyn (winner of the Costa Book Award) -
‘As misinformed soundbites proliferate and continue to be repeated, Anywhere But Here deserves a wide readership. It is an engaging, empathetic work that re-centres the stories and voices of those whose crisis this really is – people forced to leave their homes and build a new life in a country where their very existence has become a matter of debate. Read this book, not only to question what kind of country you want to live in, but also to understand the planet and your position in it.’
- Sally Hayden, author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned